Robert Eggers Brings a Werwulf to Ye Olde Horror Shoppe

Prithee watch the new Robert Eggers trailer. Quothe Eggers about the horror auteur’s new project: “It’s the darkest thing I’ve ever written by far.” The first teaser for Werwulf just came out, and it’s ominous, even without any obvious plot points. “Do not dread the darkness,” a voice intones right as the trailer begins. “Embrace it.” The movie is set in a 13th-century English village and follows the townspeople as a mysterious, folkloric creature stalks their village. The color palette shifts among black and white, sepia-toned, and some gray-green patina to really nail the foreboding aura. Written with Eggers’s The Northman collaborator Sjón, it stars collaborators Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe, all of whom appeared in Eggers’s previous project, Nosferatu.

With Werwulf, Eggers continues his journey into folkloric horror that began in 2015’s The Witch and renders ancient fears as scary as they felt them. At this point, he’s done movies about a witch, a werewolf, a vampire (Nosferatu), a mermaid (The Lighthouse), and vikings (The Northman). Including Werwulf, Eggers’s last three movies have all been distributed by Focus Features, which is, in turn, owned by Universal. Taking his movies in aggregate, Eggers is basically just creating a new set of Universal Monsters. Get ready to go do a folk dance to ward off the creature from the black lagoon in Universal Studios’ Eggersland someday.